Printing machine for moving picture films



Nov. 1, 1932. J. BURKHARDT 1,385,229

PRINTING MACHINE FOR MOVING PICTURE FILMS Filed Jan. 7, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR Nov. 1, 1932. J. BURKHARDT PRINTING MACHINE FOR MOVING PICTURE FILMS Filed Jan. 7, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR tfd/rofi 5027/7ar07 BY Nov. 1, 1932. u -r 1,885,229

PRINTING MACHINE FOR MOVING PICTURE FILMS Filed Jan. 7, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 wim Patented Nov. 1, 1932 UNITED STATES: PATENT OFFICE J'LKOB BUBKHARDT, OF DETROIT, IICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO THIRD DIMENSION- PICTURES, LNG, OF NEW YORK, N. Y A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK PRINTING .KACHHE FOB MOVING PI ICTUBE FILMS Application fled January 7, 1828. Serial No. 330,709.

The main objects of this invention are:

First, to provide a printing machine for moving picture films and the like whereby the film may be fed independently of the negative, permitting spacing of the pictures on the film as desired.

Second, to provide a rinting machine of this class whereby a 1m may be passed through the machine two or more times and accurately registered relative to the negative.

Third, to provide a printing machine having the above recited advantages which is simple in its manipulation and adjustments and automatic in operation.

Objects pertaining to details and economies of the invention will definitely appear from the detailed description to follow. The invention is pointed out in the claims.

A structure which embodies the features of the invention is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a printing machine embodying the invention, the casing or housing being shown partially in vertical section.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation showing details of the negative feed mechanism and certain details of the driving connections.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary front view showing details of the guiding andusupporting means for the positive film.

Fig. 4 is afragmentary perspective view showing details of the negative feed means and certain details of the control means for the positive film.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail vertical section on line 55 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail vertical section on line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a detail section on line" 77 of Figs. 2 and 8 showing details of the negative feed means.

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail section on line 8-8 of Figs. 2 and 7 Fig. 9 is an enlarged detail partially in section on broken line 9-9 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 10 is an enlarged detail view partially in section on line 10-10 of Fig. 1 illustrating further details of the negative and positive film guiding and supporting means.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary sectional view on line 11-11 of Fig. 5. Fig. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view on line 1212 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 13 is a detail section on line 1313 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary view ofa developed film, a product of the type the machine illustrated is adapted to print.

Referring to the drawings, the cabinet or casing 1 is adapted as a supportfor the various parts and a housing for certain of the 55 parts. The lamp 2 is arranged within the housing and the housing has an aperture 3 alined with the window 4 through which the light may pass. The shutter is indicated at 5, the usual color slide at 6, the negative 7 at 7 and the positive film at 8.

The negative is passed over the negative driving sprocket 9 while the positive film is guided by suitable rollers to the positive feeding sprocket 10. These sprockets pull the films from spools, not illustrated. The negative film is passed over a guide roller 11 to a negative feed means operatively associated with the window so that the negative is advanced step by step across the window. 0 The positive film is carried over a guide roller 12 to superimposed relation relative to the negative and to an independent positive film feed mechanism.

It will be noted that both the negative and 35 positive films are fed by the sprockets 9 and 10 so there is substantial slack between these feed sprockets and the respective film guide rollers.

The negative and the positive films are held in contacting relation at the printing point by meansoof a-pressure shoe desi ated gen: erally by the numeral 13 carried y a frame designated generall by the numeral 14. This frame is provi ed with outwardly projecting arms 15 pivoted at 16 on the arms 17. The frame is held in its closed position by the bolt -18. The spring 19 mounted on the arm 17 engaging the edge ofthe arm 15 acts 1 to hold the pressure shoe frame in open position.

The pressure shoe 13 is'disposed in 01prelation to the window and holds t in contact, yieldingly pressin them 15 against the window plate 20. 'Coile or flat pressure springs 21 are provided for the pressure shoe.

The feed means for the negative consists of a slide 22 mounted on the dove-tailed way 23 go and having a transverse slideway 24 therein for the feed fingers 25. These feed fingers are adapted to engage the holes commonl provided in the negative, the same being a vanced to engaged position and retracted in 25 timed relation to the reciprocation of the slide 22. This slide 22 is driven from the cocentric 26 on the shaft 27 the connecting rod 28 on the eccentric being connected to the slide at 29. Q

The feed fingers are projected and retracted the way 24 by means of the lever 30 which pivoted at 31 on the slide way 23. The slide 22 has a slot 32 therein to receive the pivot. The lever 30 -is forked at 33 to embrace and coact with the cam 34 on the shaft 27. The arms of the lever are provided with rollers 35 riding on the cam.

The body member of the fingers 25 is provided with a groove 36 engaged by the pin 37 on the end of the lever 30. These details are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. j

With this arrangement of parts the rotation of the shaft 27 reciprocates the feed slide 22 and projecting fingers when the slide is in forward position toengage the negative and retracts them at thelend of the stroke to release the negative. To hold the film in engagement with the fingers and to steady the movement thereof, a pair of feed shoes 38 are provided channeled at 39 to receive the ends of the feed fingers. These shoes are mounted on the frame 14 and yieldingly supported by means of the springs 40.-

The mechanism for feeding the positive film is shown in detail in Figs. 3, 5, 6 and 9, the embodiment illustrated being designed to feed the positive film two picture spaces while the negative is advanced one space.

film passes under the guiding and'compensating rollers 41 across the bridge 42 to the feed plate 43 having an o ening 44 therein through which the feed ngers 45 project 65 and in which they. reciprocate on their feed From the printing position the positive stroke. This feed mechanism is similar to that described for the negative, 'the feed fingers being mounted in a way 46 in a slide 47 reciprocated by the pitman 48 on the crank shaft 49. Y The crank is employed instead of the eccentric on account of the greater throw possible without undue increase in size of parts.

The fingers are projected and retracted by means of the lever 50 pivoted at 51 on the slideway and forked at 52 to coact with the cam 53 'on the crank shaft. These feed fingers act the same as described for the negaare yieldingly mounted on' a holder 55 pivoted' at 56. 7

To further support and steady the positive film during its feeding movement a pair of film engaging bars 57 are provided which are mounted on pivoted links 58 and 59 so that the bars engage the opposite edges of the film and the film is carried along between them. The links are parallel so the bars are held in parallelism and are moved simultaneously to and from each other. The link 58 is extended at one end and provided with a finger piece 60 by means of which the bars may be spread for convenience in threading the film. A coiled s ring 61 is connected to the link 58 and to a xed part so that it acts to urge the bars yieldingly toward each other. The

blade spring 62 coacts with the arms on the frame 55 to hold the frame in open-position. The bolt 63. holds it in its closed posltion.

Owing to the fact that the development of the negative usually causes it to stretch or extend somewhat, it is desirable to have means to compensate for this stretching or extension or the resulting variation between the positive and negative films. In the embodiment illustrated compensating rollers 41 are provided. which are mounted on the frame 14 between the film feed means and the pressure shoe or plate 13. These'compensating rollers 41 are mounted on a spindle 65 having eccentric supporting portions 66, see Figs. 3, 5 and 13. The spindle is provided with a finger piece 67 and a pointer 68 thereon coacting with positioning indicia 69 on the spindle support 70. v The spindle support 71 is slit and provided with a clamping screw 72 so that the spindle may be adjusted and clamped inits adjusted position. This, in effect, varies the distance the film must travel between the pressure shoe 13 and the positive film feed means.

As the positive film-is fed'twice the distance of the negative film at each stroke it is desirable to reduce the friction of the films. To accomplish this a pair of spreader bars 7 3 are provided which project between the films as shown in Figs. 11 and 12, holding them normally separated. These s reader bars, however, are spaced so that t e films may be pressed into contact b the pressure shoe 13. It will be understoo that these spreaders are in practice of very thin material and no attempt has been made in the drawings to illustrate relative thickness.

The friction is further reduced by channeling the film supporting plate 20 and also the film supporting plate 43, thereby providing in efiect film supporting ribs 74 and 75, respectively.

To further steady and guide the positive film guiding rollers 76 are provided positioned above and adjacent to the pressure 13, these guide rollers being carried by a swinging frame 77 pivoted on the spindle 78 and urged yieldingly toward the filmby means of the coiled spring 79 arranged on the spindle, one end being connected to the spindle and the other to the frame.

lt will be understood that the movable parts described are driven in synchronism. in the embodiment illustrated power is applied through the shaft 49, that is, this is the driven shaft. The motor or driving means for this shaft is not illustrated. The shaft 27 is connected to the shaft 49 by means of the transmission shaft 80 which is provided with beveled gear 8i meshing with the gear 82 on the shaft 49 and with a gear 83 meshing with a gear 84 on the shaft 27. These gears are of the same size so the shaft 27 is driven at the same speed as the shaft 49.

The sprockets 9 and 10 are provided with pinions 85 and 86 connected by a pinion 87 I which is in turn connected to a worm gear 88 coacting with a worm 89 on the shaft90. The shaft 90 has a beveled gear 91 on its lower end meshing with the gear 92 on the shaft 27.

The shaft 90 also drives the shaft 93 of the shutter 5, the shaft 93 having agear 94 meshing with the gear 95 on the shaft 90.

To facilitate the alinement of the parts before they are bolted to the bracket 96 screws 3? are provided which are swivelled to the base plate 98 on which the positive film feed mechanism is mounted. These screws have threaded engagement with a lug 99 on the bracket 96. This facilitates alinement and adjustment of the parts so that the positive film is not subjected to any lateral or distorting stresses.

in the embodiment illustrated the bridge 42 is provided with an arm 100 engaged with the pins 101 and 102, see Fig. 3, a nut 103 being threaded upon the pin 102. This bridge plate is also channeled and provided with film retaining members 104 and 105. The member 105 is slotted at 106 to receive the screws 10? so that the retaining member 105 may be moved out of position to permit threading of the film and readjusted to operative position.

With the parts thus arranged the positive film may be passed through the machine two or more times to permit printing of foreground and background in alternating relation and the printing of masks of the foreground upon the background. A fragment of film is shown in Fig. 14 illustrating a developed positive in which the alternate picture spaces are occupied by foreground and background pictures and the background has a mask of the foreground or image picture.

The invention has been illustrated in an embodiment which has been found satisfactory. No attempt has been made to illustrate modifications and adaptations contemplated as it is believed that this disclosure will enable those skilled in the art to embody the invention as may be desired to meet the particular requirements.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination in a printin including an exposure window and pressure shoe disposed in opposed relation to the window, of means for feeding a negative engaging the film at the rear of said pressure shoe, means for feeding a positive film disposed at an angle to the path of the negative and engaging the positive at the rear of said pre sure shoe, means for driving said film feed means in synchronism so that their periods of rest coincide, a compensating roller disposed to engage the positive film at the rear of said pressure shoe, a spindle for said roller provided with eccentric supporting portions, said spindle being provided with a fingerpiece and with a pointer, there being gauging indicia operatively associated with said pointer, and means for securing said spindle in its adjusted positions.

2. The combination in a printing machine including an exposure window and pressure shoe disposed in opposed relation to the window, of means for feeding a negative engaging the film at the rear of said pressure shoe, means for feeding a positive film disposed at an angle to the path of the negative and engaging the positive at the rear of said pressure shoe, means for driving said film feed means in synchronism so that their periods of rest coincide, and an adjustable member engaging the positive film at the rear of said pressure shoe, a spindle for said member provided with eccentric supporting portions, said spindle being provided with a fingerpiece and with a corner, there being engaging indicia operatively associated with said pointer, and means for securing said spindle in its adjusted positions.

3. The combination in a printing machine, of means for feeding a negative film, means for feeding a positive film, a com pensating roller disposed to engage the positive film between the point of exposure and its feed means, a spindle for said roller pro machine vided with eccentric supportin portions, said spindle being rovided wit a fingerpiece and with a polnter, there being engaging indicia operatively associated with said m'nter, and means for securing said spindle 111 its adjusted positions.

4. The combination in a printing machine including an exposure window and a pressure shoe disposed in opposed relation to said window for supporting the positive and negative films in contacting relation, means for feeding the negative film, independent means for feeding the positive film, the feed stroke of the positive feeding means being greater than the feed stroke of the negative feeding means, both of said feed means engaging the film at the rear of the pressure shoe, and an adjustable compensating member engaging said positive film between said pressure shoe and its feed means, a spindle for said member provided with eccentric supporting portions, said spindle being provided with a fingerpiece and with a corner, there being engaging indicia operatively associated with said pointer, and means for securing said spindle in its adjusted positions.

5. The combination in a printlng machlne, of means for feeding a negative film step by step one picture space at a stroke, means for feeding a positive film step by step a plurality of picture spaces at a stroke, a compensating roller for said positive film, a spindle for said roller provided with eccentric support portions, and means for securin said spindle in its adjusted positions, inclu ing a fingerpiece and a pointer carried by said spindle, and engaging indicia operatively associated with said pointer.

6. The combination in a printin machine, of means for feeding a negative fi m step by step one picture space at a stroke, means for feeding a positive film step by step a plurality of picture spaces at a stroke, and an adjustable compensating member engaging said positive film between its feed means and the point of exposure and across which said film is drawn by said feed means, a spindle for said member provided with eccentric supporting portions, said spindle being provided with a fingerpiece and with a corner, there being engaging indicia operatively associated with said pointer, and means for securing said spindle in its adjusted positions.

7. The combination in a printin machine, of means for feeding a negative lm, means for feeding a positive film a compensating roller disposed to engage the positive film between the point of exposure and its feed means, and means for adjusting said roller, including a fingerpiece and a pointer associated with said spindle and engaging indicia operatively associated with said pointer.

8. The combination in a printing machine, of means for feeding a negative film step by step one picture space at a stroke, means for feeding a positive film step by step a plu-.

rality of picture s aces at a stroke, and a compensating mem r for said positive film engaging the film between the point of exp'osure and its said feed means, a spindle for said member provided with eccentric supporting ortions, said spindle being provided with a ngerpiece and with a corner, there being engaging indicia operatively associated with said pointer, and means for securing said spindle in its adjusted positions.

9. The combination in a printing machine, of a film supporting plate having an exposure opening therein and provlded with spaced longitudinal ribs adapted to support a film at the edges thereof, a yieldingly supported pressure shoe operatively associated with said plate for holding a positive and a negative in sliding contact over the exposure opening, independent feed means for the films, the feed stroke of one of the film feed means exceeding that of the other, spreader fingers disposed between the films adjacent the edges thereof, and yieldingly supported rollers engaging the positive film in advance of said pressure shoe.

10. The combination in a printing machine, of a film supporting plate having an exposure opening therein and provided with spaced longitudinal ribs adapted to support a film at the edges thereof, a yieldingly supported pressure shoe operatively associated with said plate for holding a positive and a negative in sliding contact over the exposure opening, independent feed means for the films, the feed stroke of one of the film feed means exceeding that of the other, and spreader fingers disposed between the films adjacent the edges thereof.

11. The combination in a printing machine, of a film supporting plate, a yieldingly supported pressure shoe operatively associated with said plate for holding a positive and a negative in sliding contact at the printing point, independent feed means for the films, the feed stroke of one of the film feed means exceeding that of the other, an adjustable plate having forked integral spreader fingers disposed between the films adjacent the edges thereof, and yieldingly supported rollers engaging the positive film in advance of said pressure shoe.

12. The combination in a printing machine, of a film supporting plate, a yieldingly supported pressure shoe operatively associated with said plate for holding a positive and a negative in sliding contact at the printing point, independent feed means for the films, the feed stroke of one of the film feed means exceeding that of the other, and an adjustable plate having forked integral spreader fingers disposed between the films adjacent the edges thereof.

13. The combination in a printing machine of a film supporting plate, a pressure shoe operatively associated with said film supporting plate, independent feed means for the films, the feed stroke of one of the film feed means exceeding that of the other, and an adjustable plate having forked integral spreader fingers disposed between the edges of the films.

14. The combination in a printing machine of a film supporting plate, a pressure means operatively associated therewith, and an adjustable plate having forked integral spreader members disposed between the films adjacent the edges thereof.

In witness whereof I have hand.

- JAKOB BURKHARDT.

hereunto set my 

